NAACP Outraged By Death Of 13-Year-Old At Hands Of LAPD

February 09, 2005

Community raises questions regarding police
procedures

NAACP Interim President and CEO Dennis Courtland Hayes is
calling for a full investigation by the Los Angeles Police
Department and the U.S. Justice Department into the needless death
of a 13-year old boy shot by a police officer on Sunday.

The fatal shooting of Devin Brown, who was pursued as an
auto-theft suspect, has prompted questions by community leaders
over why the police department has not changed its policy on firing
at moving vehicles as promised one year ago.

Hayes said, "We are calling on everyone in the community to
demand justice in a system that tolerates such behavior. The NAACP
will follow up on the police department's promise to revise its
policy on the use of deadly force when the case is presented in
front of the LAPD Police Commission in 45 days."

In 2004, after a police officer shot and killed a motorist in
Santa Monica, the LAPD Chief of Police William J. Bratton announced
that he would place new restrictions on officers firing at moving
vehicles and on the apprehension of fleeing suspects.

The shooting of Brown comes at a time when black residents are
still upset over two other recent news events involving the LAPD.
Last week the Los Angeles County District Attorney chose not to
prosecute the LAPD officer who used a flashlight in the 2004
beating of a black car thief during an arrest. In a case last
month, a jury awarded $1.6 million to a former police officer who
was captured on videotape slamming a black teenager onto the trunk
of a patrol car. In the lawsuit, the white officer claimed race
discrimination because he was treated more harshly than black
officers on the case.

Currently the LAPD manual states that "firing at or from moving
vehicles is generally prohibited." However, officers are now
entitled to use deadly force to protect themselves if they are in
imminent danger, which is ultimately decided by the police
department.

Geraldine Washington, President of the NAACP Los Angeles
chapter, has requested several meetings with the LAPD to discuss
this and prior incidents involving police policies and
procedures.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights
organization. Its half-million adult and youth members throughout
the United States and the world are frontline advocates for civil
rights in their communities and monitor equal opportunity in the
public and private sectors.